Abstract

This paper addresses the alleged contradiction between the international space of accumulation and the national space of states. In particular, it challenges the argument that the internationalization of production directly establishes a transnational capitalist class (TCC) as a coherent and self-conscious social force engaged in the formation of a putative transnational state (TNS). This contention rests on a set of mechanistic understandings of class formation and the role of the capitalist state. Against this, the emphasis here is on the ‘internationalization of the state’ whereby nation states have, in an uneven and asymmetric way, come to take responsibility for promoting, underwriting and superintending a globalizing capitalism, both abroad and within their own domains. The political significance of this distinction is that the attempt to match the advanced internationalization of capital with a parallel internationalization of working class solidarity leads to a misguided internationalism. It mistakenly assumes that the weaknesses of working classes at a national level can be skipped over at an international level, and fails to properly grasp the continuing centrality, even under globalization, of the national-social formation.